Book Review: The High Tide Club

Author: Mary Kay Andrews 

Publication Date: May 8, 2018

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

An instant New York Times bestseller (May 2018) from the author of The Weekenders - a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons attorney Brooke Trappnell to her 20,000 acre barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never actually met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter, but why enlist Brooke and not the prestigious Atlanta law firm she has used for years? Brooke travels to Shellhaven and meets the cagey Josephine, whose home is a crumbling pink mansion at the edge of the turquoise sea. 

Over the course of a few meetings, Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, dark secrets, betrayal, and a long-unsolved murder. She is hiring Brooke for two reasons: first, to protect her island from those who would despoil her land, and second, to help her make amends with the heirs of the women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club―so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades―Millie, Ruth, and Varina. To fulfill a dying woman’s wishes, Brooke must find Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met. But in doing so, Brooke unleashes the makings of a scandal that could make someone rich beyond their wildest dreams…or cause them to be in the crosshairs of a murderer….

The High Tide Club is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best: a story shrouded in mystery, Spanish moss, verandah cocktails, 1940s dinner dances, love lost, and possibly…love found.

I have been obsessed with Mary Kay Andrews since I started this blog. She publishes a new book each year and each year I am always crazed excited to read it. I will be journeying to the beach later this month and had originally thought about saving this book for that trip, but we all see how that went! Anyway, Mary’s newest novel is easy to read, relatable, and definitely beach read worthy. The chapters are short, which I love, and the story and characters are easy to follow along with and love. The book is over four hundred pages, but Andrews knows how to write a book that will make you fly through the pages with more than one hundred pages in one sitting. You will easily get swept away in the story and won’t remember when you looked at the time last! The southern Georgia setting adds to the atmosphere which helps you forget your worries and get lost in this story. 

“Do you have any family?” The old lady put her head back and closed her eyes. “Not really. My brother, Gardiner, was killed in World War Two. Preiss and I never had children.” She smiled, briefly. “Never wanted any, either. I didn’t marry until I was in my thirties. He was six years younger than me. Bet you didn’t know that. No, there’s somebody else. My friends. My oldest, dearest friends. The High Tide Club girls.”

“You’re all invited to my home at Newport.” She waved her cigarette in our faces. “And don’t forget your birthday suits.”

“Someday, you’re gonna make somebody a hell of a lawyer.”

This might just be the best Mary Kay Andrews book yet, and I certainly don’t say that lightly! This book just had more depth and charm than her previous ones – not that they weren’t spectacular. The characters, Brooke, Lizzie, Varina, Marie, and Felicia, just made the story come to life – I am such a character driven reader. They were each so special and unique to the story. This book screams summer and I am sure it will be at the top of this year’s most read lists!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review***